Cigarette cartons



Sept. 7, 1965 D. s. MAGEE CIGARETTE CARTONS 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Jan. 29, 1963 Sept. 7, 1965 D. s. MAGEE CIGARETTE CARTONS 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Jan. 29, 1963 F IG. 3.

5 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Jan. 29, 1963 F I G. 6.

Sept. 7, 1965 D. s. MAGEE 3,204,854

CIGARETTE CARTONS Filed Jan. 29, 1963 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 Sept. 7, 1965 D. s. MAGEE CIGARETTE CARTONS 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Jan. 29, 1963 United States Patent Office 3,204,854 Patented Sept. 7, 1965 3,204,854 CIGARETTE CARTONS Daniel Sarsfield Mag-9e, Stormaustown, Glasnevin, Dublin, Ireland Filed Jan. 29, 1963, Ser. No. 254,748 1 Claim. (Cl. 229-44) This invention relates to cartons erected from one-piece blanks and to the blanks from which the cartons are erected.

A carton erected from a one-piece blank made in accordance with the invention comprises a tray and a lid therefor, one part of the lid being permanently attached to the tray while the other part of the lid is hinged to the fixed part to permit access to the tray. Preferably the tray comprises a rectangular base with two side walls and two end walls.

The fixed part of the lid may be formed with side walls which overlie the sides of the tray and thus provide a side for the tray of double thickness. A pocket may be formed in this double side to receive an ear formed on a side portion of the hinged part of the lid.

Also, the hinged part of the lid can be formed with an end wall which overlies an end Wall of the tray when the carton is closed. Alternatively, this end wall of the hinged part of the lid may be of double thickness and the end wall of the tray engages in it when the carton is closed.

In order to make the carton slim, the end walls of the tray may be inclined at an angle to the base of the tray.

Cartons made in accordance with the invention are particularly suitable for containing cigarettes but they may be used for packing other commodities such as medicinal tablets, confectionery, play cards, cornfiakes and other edible product-s.

Examples of the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGS. 1 and 2 show an erected carton and FIG. 3 the blank from which it can be made;

FIG. 3a is a fragment of a modification of the blank of FIG. 3;

FIGS. 4 and 5 show a second embodiment of an erected carton and FIG. 6, the blank from which such a carton can be made;

FIGS. 7, 8 and 9 show a further embodiment of an erected carton and FIG. 10, its corresponding blank.

The cartons illustrated in the drawings are all intended for packaging cigarettes.

In the drawings of the erected cartons, like numerals indicate like parts and these parts are indicated in the blanks by the same numerals with the sufiix a.

All cartons have a tray, indicated generally by 1, comprising a base 2, two side walls 3, 4 and two end Walls 5, 6. The tray is partially covered by the fixed part 7 of a lid, indicated generally by 8. This part 7 is provided with side walls 10, 11 which overlie the side walls 3, 4 of the tray. The other part 12 of the lid is hinged along a fold line 13 to the fixed part of the lid 7. The hinged part 12 of the lid is also provided with side portions 14, 15 and an end portion 16. The end portion 16 has a recess 19 formed in it to enable the hinged part of the lid to be opened easily.

Referring now to FIGS. 1 and 2, they show a carton in which the side walls 10, 11 are purposely made wider than the walls 3, 4 and are folded double during erection of the carton. A portion of one layer of the double thickness is omitted, however, to form a pocket. Arcuate ears 2t? are formed on the adjoining ends of the side portions 14, 15 of the hinged part of the lid and are arranged to engage in the pockets formed on the sides of the tray.

The blank shown in FIG. 3 is erected by first forming the tray 1a by folding up side walls 3a, 4a and end walls 5a, 6a so that they are normal to the base 2. Gussets 9a between the end wall 5a and the side walls 3a, 4a fold to the position shown at 9 in FIGS. 1 and 2 and they enable the end 5a to be hinged about its joint with the base 2a despite being attached to the side walls 3a, 4a. The flaps 18a attached to the side walls 3a, 4a are glued to the end 6a which is integral with the lid 8a. The side walls 10a, 11a of the fixed part of the lid 7a are folded back on themselves, the lid 8a is swung down to cover the tray 1a and the lid side walls 10a, 11a are glued to the outsides of the tray side walls 3a, 4a, leaving pockets at the ends closest to the side portions 14a, 15a.

The carton is now completely folded except for the formation of the hinged part of the lid 12. This part 12 is bent outwards away from the tray along a fold line 13a and the side portions 14a, 15a are doubled over and glued down. The side portions 14a, 15a can be doubled over and glued down at the same time as the side walls 10a, 11a are doubled over. The ears 20a are then inserted in the pockets formed in the side Walls 3a, 4a of the tray. The flaps 19a are folded in and glued to the lid end portion 16a to form the recess 24, shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. Flaps 17a on the ends of the side portions 14a, 15a are folded over and then bent inwardly at right angles to the side portions 14a, 15a. The end portion 16a is then bent inwardly at right angles to the hinged part 12a and glued to the flaps 17a.

A modification of the blank of FIG. 3 is shown in FIG. 3a in which the flaps 17a are made slightly larger and there is only one flap 19a. This enables a heater recess 24 to be made and also effects a slight saving of material and labour.

The carton is closed by pushing the hinged part of the lid 12 over the end of the tray 1 so that its end portion 16 overlies the tray end wall 5. When the carton is opened by swinging the hinged part of the lid away from the tray 1, the tray end 5 may be swung down to lie in substantially the same plane as the base 2 of the tray to provide easy access to the inside of the carton.

FIGS. 4 and 5 show a carton which is very similar to that shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, an important difference between them being the formation of the ears 20. Here, as shown in FIG. 6, the side walls 10a, 11a and the side portions 14a, 15a of the lid 8a are only as wide as the side walls 3a, 4a of the tray 1a. Thus, only a very small ear 20a is formed when the side portions 14a, 15a are doubled over and glued down.

FIGS. 7, 8 and 9, however, illustrate a carton which is constructed so as to be somewhat slimmer than the two cartons previously described. This is achieved by sloping the end walls 5, 6 of the tray at an angle of about 60 to the base of the tray, instead of as in the other cartons. The end portion 16 of the hinged part 12 of the lid is also inclined at an angle of about 60. Also this carton has a diiferent closure for the lid. The end wall 5 of the tray 1, which in the other cartons was attached to the tray side walls 3, 4 by gussets 9, is left completely free to hinge about its join with the base 2 of the tray. The end portion 16 of the hinged part 12 of the lid is formed from the end portion 16a (see FIG. 10) and two flaps 21a, 22a formed on the side portions 14a, 15a. One of these flaps 22a has a triangular extension 23a, which is glued to the outside of the hinged part 12a when the carton is erected. This flap 21a is glued to the inside of the flap 22a and 16a is left free. When the erected carton is closed the free end wall 5 of the tray apogee;

3 is engaged between the end portion 16 and the two flaps 21, 22.

As shown in FIG. 10 the part 21a is formed with two ears 21b which when the carton is erected engage in slits 25 between the parts 12a, 16a. If desired, however, these ears 21b and slits 25 may be omitted.

The carton illustrated in FIGS. 7, 8 and 9 is specifically intended to contain cigarettes with their axes parallel to the end Walls of the tray. As the end walls are at an angle'of about 60 to the base of the tray the cigarettes are staggered in relation to one another so that the internal height between the tray and the lid can be made less than twice the diameter of a cigarette.

The two cartons illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 and 4'and 5 are also suitable for receiving the cigarettes with their axes parallel to the end walls of the tray. In these cartons, however, the cigarettes are usually superposed and the internal height between the tray and the lid is an exact multiple of the diameter of a cigarette. Alternatively, the cigarettes can be packed in-an orthodox manner with their axes parallel to the side walls of the tray. If this is done however, the end wall of the tray needs to be hinged outwards every time a cigarette is extracted from the carton. The one-piece blanks illustrated in FIGS. 3, 6 and 10 enable cartons according to the invention to be made with as little waste as possible and to be erected easily. With the blank of FIG. 3, waste is reduced to a minimum by dovetailing one blank into another so that the parts 10a, 14a'of one blank lie alongside the side wall 3a of a like blank in the material from which the blanks are cut.

The line which separates the inner halves of the side portions 14a, 15a from the inner halves of the side walls 10a, 11a in FIG. 3 need not be a straight line as shown, but may be curved to enhance the appearance of the completed packet.

I claim:

A single foldable blank of semi-rigid material of substantially rectangular form for constructing a box having a tray portion and a lid portion foldable over the tray portion, wherein:

(a) the tray portion of the blank is'provided with corresponding pairs of transverse fold lines dividing the tray portion of the blank into a relatively large base panel of parallelogram form, two vertical side wall panels, an outer end panel and an inner end panel extending laterally of the blank, the outerend panel extending along one of the outer edges of the base panel and the other end panel extending parallel with the first mentioned end panel and at the opposite end of the base panel, one end of each of the side wall panels terminating adjacent the ends of the outer panel, gussets formed between the outer ends of the side wall panels and the adjacent ends of the said outer end panel, said gussets having fold lines for folding the gussets over the outer surface of said end panel when the blank is folded;

(b) the portion of the blank forming the lid for the tray having transverse fold lines dividing the lid portion from the tray portion and into a central panel of substantially the same size as the base panel of the tray portion and two adjacent inner and outer relatively narrow rectangular side panels at each side of the central panel and a relatively narrow outer rectangular end panel extending laterally along the opposite end of the blank;

(0) both ends of the two outer side wall panels and the inner ends of the inner side wall panel terminating in a plane with the lateral fold lines of the central lid panel and the opposite ends of the inner side wall panels adjacent the last-mentioned outer end panel being extended and terminating substantially in a line with the last-mentioned lateral edge of the blank, the ends of the said outer end panel and the inner side panels being separated by a narrow slot, the extended ends of the inner side wall panels having tabs extending laterally outwardly therefrom, a fold line along the base of the tabs extending in a .plane with the fold line extending between the inner and outer side wall members, the said end panel having a slightly outwardly extended portion adjacent the center thereof and. a slot adjacent its center, the slot extending inwardly for a short distance from the outer edge of the extended portion and running parallel with the longitudinal axis of the blank, a pair of slots extending at diverging angles from the inner end of the first-mentioned slot toward the fold line between the central lid panel and'the said lid end panel, a fold line extending between the inner ends of the angle slots and from the inner ends of the angles slots to the outer edges of the said extension;

(d) an intermediate hinged fold line extending laterally of the large central lid portion, each of the inner side panels at each side of the center panel having slots extending outwardly at opposite angles and angularly to the longitudinal axis of the blank to the fold line between the respective inner and outer side wall panels, the said slots continuing into the respective outer side panels from the fold line between the inner and outer side walls for a predetermined distance. and at a reversed angle and developing into outwardly arcuated curves and extending through the outer vertical edges of the respective side wall panels.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS '99 1,05 2 5/ 11 Draper 229-311 FOREIGN PATENTS 572,120 11/58 Belgium. 423,180 1/35 England. 1,003,126 2/57 Germany. 1,078,934 3/60 Germany.

FRANKLIN T. GARRETT, Primary Examiner. 

